


Without a Script

by Alphawulf



Series: There's Just Unity [1]
Category: Code Lyoko
Genre: Crushes, Friendship, Multi, Polyamory, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 14:35:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14771510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alphawulf/pseuds/Alphawulf
Summary: She wonders if this how they all feel when looking at each other - or if she's an outlier. She knows these four are her friends, but is this how friends are supposed to feel for each other? All nervous and happy? Like they're all a fire, and if she gets close enough she could be engulfed by the flame - though, that's all she ever wants to be, for being away from the fire would leave her too numb?





	Without a Script

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I've watched this show, and I think I've fallen back in love with the characters. I dunno how Active the fandom is, but I really had to write this and thought that I might as well post it!

Aelita sits on Jeremie’s bed as he works away on his desktop, the sound of keystrokes being the predominant sound in the dorm. She leans against the wall - making sure not to disturb the large picture of Einstein.

“Hey, Jeremie?” she ventures, tilting her head back to examine the ceiling, “could I ask you something?”

“One second,” he says, pausing mid sentence and finishing off the line of code he was typing with a swift press of the semicolon key, “what is it?” He spins around his chair to face her, though she keeps her eyes trained on the ceiling.

“It's nothing big, just- a question, is all.”

“Shoot.”

“Well,” she closes her eyes to best focus, making sure the words come out right, “when someone cares about another person a lot, they kiss them, right?”

“Uh, yeah, that's right.”

“And when someone kisses another person, they're only supposed to kiss that person.”

“Yep, that's how relationships work. Remember when Odd was secretly dating two girls? That was pretty terrible on his part.”

“Ah, yes, I remember that,” she pauses for a moment, before continuing on with her train of thought “well, my question is that, what if someone cares a whole lot about more than one person? how would they choose which one is the one they can kiss?”

Jeremie steeples his fingers, elbows on the armrests of the chair, hunched so his fingers are in front of his mouth. “Well, I suppose, whoever they've known the longest. Or whoever they're closer to, more friendly with, or more compatible with.” He suggests.

Aelita nods, “Yes, that makes sense. Thank you, Jeremie.” She can see him nod in her peripherals, with a quiet hum, before turning back to the computer and resuming to code.

Her chin drops so it rests against her chest, idly glancing around the room before standing, arms stretching until her shoulders pop.

“I think I’ll go see Odd and Ulrich before class. You okay working on that by yourself?”

He turns to look at her, almost searchingly, making sure she seems okay before he speaks, “yeah, I'll be fine here. Tell them I said hi!”

She smiles, nods, and walks over to him to give him a quick hug, before grabbing her bag and heading off, quietly shutting Jeremie’s door behind her.

 

She knocks on Odd and Ulrich’s dorm door, and through it, she hears a muffled “Come in!” She opens the door slowly, remembering the other day when Kiwi was sleeping on the floor just inside and got a nasty surprise.

Luckily, Kiwi decided that he wants to nap in his actual bed today - in the drawer - though he perks up at the sound of the door.

Aelita glances about the room - Odd lounging haphazardly on his bed, a gameboy held inches from his face, volume seemingly on full blast. She gracefully works her way over to Kiwi, to give him a little attention as she asks, “Ulrich isn't here?”

Odd presses a few buttons in quick succession, twisting the device this way and that before actually responding, “Nah, he went to go find _Yumi_.” Odd draws out her name in an almost taunting manner, a grin on his face, and Aelita laughs just a bit.

“Sounds about right,” she says with a smile, moving to scratch Kiwi just behind his ears, since his head tilting indicates that's what he wants. “Could I ask you something?”

“You? Asking _me_ about something?” he jokes, pressing one button as fast as he can for a few seconds, “yeah, go for it.”

“It's okay if you don't want to answer,” she begins, and his frantic button mashing slows, “I just wanted to know - you've kissed a lot of people, and gone out with them too. How… how did you know you wanted to go out with them? To kiss them?”

He seems taken off guard, and from his game comes a crashing sound, followed by a jingle that signals a game over. He doesn't seem to notice - or at least, care - starting again at a much slower pace.

“Well, I felt it! I knew I wanted to, so I went and tried - and succeeded, usually,” he boasts.

“But how did you _know_?” she tries again, and Kiwi decides now is a good time to roll onto his side, so Aelita starts to pet his tummy.

“Well, uh… hmm,” she can see the corner of his mouth turning into a frown, eyebrows furrowing, “it’s kind of hard to explain.”

“Could you try?”

“Alright, just, gimme a sec…” he focuses hard on his game again, and it seems to be getting intense, if how much he's moving the device around and how hard he’s pushing the buttons is any indication.

She assumes he forgot: another jingle chimes out - one of victory, rather than defeat - and he cheers along with it, setting aside his gameboy and sprawling even more bizarrely on his bed - leg up along the wall, one arm dangling off and touching the floor.

That's when he speaks, “Ok, well, it feels like… like there's this tickly feeling inside me, and I've gotta scratch it somehow. And sometimes, it feels like there's a balloon in my chest - y’know, with helium - that makes me feel lighter. And sometimes my heart feels like it's beating all funny, too hard or soft or quick…” he trails off, looking at her to see if that's what she was looking for.

She looks to him and smiles, giving Kiwi a few pats before standing up - Kiwi rolls back onto his stomach, seeming as though he's ready to follow her around so he can keep getting attention. “Thank you.” It doesn't seem like the right thing to say, but not saying anything seems worse.

“Why'd you wanna know anyways, huh? Something to do with _Jeremie_?” He's grinning in that cocky way he does when he's purposely teasing his friends, and she sits near him on his bed.

“Ah, partially,” is all she says to that, face feeling a little warm, “so, what game are you playing?”

He narrows his eyes at her, and she can _tell_ he wants to keep grilling her about it, but he doesn't, and lets her change the subject.

They get so wrapped up in the game that they’re nearly late to class, saved only by Ulrich coming back for his backpack and spurring them into action.

 

“Hey, Jeremie, d’you think you could help me understand what Ms. Herts just talked about? I didn't get it at _all_ in class, and I really need to start getting a better grade…” Odd rubs the back of his head with a sheepish grin, and Jeremie rolls his eyes and adjusts his glasses.

“Yeah fine, I can help you. But _please_ pay attention,” he scolds, prompting a laugh from the other three, and an exaggerated frown from Odd. “Aelita? Ulrich? Yumi? Want to join us?”

The three of them all nod - even though Yumi isn't in their grade, they all like to stick together regardless; she can do her studying nearby.

“I’ll be there in a bit,” Aelita says to Jeremie; then, to Ulrich and Yumi, “can I talk to you two for a moment, please?”

They glance at each other, a little startled, but Yumi smiles, “Of course,” and Ulrich mirrors her sentiment.

Jeremie gives her a funny look, and Odd narrows his eyes - like earlier, though more piercing, almost - before he laughs and slaps Jeremie on the back, earning a wince.

“Well, let's get to work, Einstein, I really got to get this stuff down!” With the hand on Jeremie’s back, Odd guides him back towards the dormitories.

Aelita waves, then steels herself, turning towards the others. “It'll be quick, I promise.”

“What is it, princess?” Yumi nudges her.

“Yeah, what's your question?” Ulrich is leaning into her personal space.

Aelita’s heart beats just a bit faster, just a bit harder, but she keeps her face a happy neutral. “I wanted some opinions on something.”

“Which is…?” Ulrich prompts her, quirking an eyebrow, and she fights to keep her nerve. Asking all of them these questions today is really starting to take its toll, but it feels as if she can't wait, either.

“Do you two think that, ah, one person could date two people- a-and not like Odd did back when,” she waves her hands around a bit, and Yumi just nods knowing, rubbing at her cheek absentmindedly, “but like, with everyone being, well, happy with the arrangement?”

Yumi and Ulrich are silent - thinking - and maybe it _wasn't_ a quick question, but it's too late to go back now.

Yumi chimes in first “Well, it really depends on the people right?” she turns to look at Ulrich, almost as if for confirmation.

“Well, yeah, I bet there's someone somewhere who'd be okay with that.” He sounds just a _little_ defensive - perhaps they weren't the right ones to ask this question, with the whole ordeal with William and all.

But, she's already this far, “So, you think it's possible?”

Yumi nods. “Yeah, just as long as everyone knows about it and says it's okay, I don't see why not.”

Ulrich is frowning, and Aelita really doesn't want to be the reason for him to go off moping somewhere, so she smiles brightly at them. “Thank you! Now, shall we go help Odd study?”

She feels relief wash through her as the others laugh at that, and let the subject drop - neither of them wanting to risk William coming up and souring the mood, even if it means they can't ask _why_ Aelita asked what she did.

The relief is nearly instantly replaced by a frantic buzzing feeling, as Yumi casually drapes an arm over Aelita’s shoulder, and Ulrich throws an arm around her waist.

“Yeah, let's go help ‘em out, before Jeremie gets too frustrated by Odd not understanding his overly complicated explanations,” Ulrich says, as he and Yumi start to move, Aelita pulled along with them.

As they walk towards the dorms - Jeremie’s, if they had to guess - Aelita feels almost as if she's being escorted, and she really hopes her face isn't as red as it feels as she gently wraps her arms around her friends’ backs.

 

It's late - nearly curfew for those who are boarders at Kadec. The study session devolved into a general hang out a little over an hour ago - Odd has his sketchbook open to a partially drawn picture of Jeremie wearing something absolutely _ridiculous_ , participating in the conversation between intense spurts of drawing.

The conversation itself is just a light hearted teasing attempt to get Jeremie to stumble over his words, the others saying wildly inaccurate things while he corrects them, doing his best to translate his thoughts into something the others can better understand - it's hard, but he's been getting better at it, though usually if Aelita is there she can help everyone understand.

They're aligned like half fallen dominos. Aelita is in the corner, at the head of Jeremie’s bed, one leg tucked while the other stretches across the width of the mattress. Jeremie is leaning against her, shoulder to shoulder, cleaning his glasses off on his shirt as he talks. Ulrich is next to him, leaning just a bit more than Jeremie is, notebook still on his lap, though long forgotten. Yumi is against him, the most slouched of them yet, head lower than Ulrichs as she rests her back against his arm.

Odd has chosen to lay across everyone's legs - how he's comfortable, Aelita will never understand - on his stomach, his sketchbook on the bed just in front of him - and Aelita. Poor Yumi has the pleasure of being his foot rest.

Aelita looks at all her friends with a warm smile, a bubbly sensation in her chest that she's grown accustomed to.

She wonders if this how they all feel when looking at each other - or if she's an outlier. She _knows_ these four are her friends, but is this how friends are supposed to feel for each other? All nervous and happy? Like they're all a fire, and if she gets close enough she could be engulfed by the flame - though, that's all she ever wants to be, for being away from the fire would leave her too numb?

She thinks her thoughts are getting away from her, but that's beside the point.

Are friends supposed to want to cuddle? To hold hands or wrap their arms around each other?

To kiss?

She knows she likes Jeremie as more than a friend, but then she realized that same feeling extended to the rest of her friends. She thought maybe she just read too much into the friendship, but she's not too sure now, with the way her heart flutters when any of them are close to her, or when her hand brushes against one of theirs, or when they hug her or call her princess - or any pet name, really.

The conversation has wound down - now they seem to be complaining about teachers, but it leads into anecdotes of weird or funny things said teachers have done.

Everyone is happy, it seems, and though she could ask her final question - _I think I have feelings for_ all _of you. Is… that okay?_ \- she decides that can wait for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Kudos make my day, comments make my year!


End file.
